Borges Marathon, Part 3: The Widow Ching—Pirate
Before I read Borges, I used to think there was a sharp dividing line between fiction and nonfiction. In my own writing, there’s a…
The Archipelago of Another Life Readalong, Part 2
I’m reading The Archipelago of Another Life by Andreï Makine in the company of Emma at Words and Peace and Carol at…
April 2021 Reading Roundup
Spring is here: storks on the electricity poles, calves in the fields, and suddenly a million things to do around the house…
The Vastness of the Dark by Alistair MacLeod
The Vastness of the Dark seems to be a quite simple tale about a young man escaping from the confines of his…
February/March 2021 Reading Roundup
I missed my monthly reading roundup in February, so here are two months together. As you’ll see, they were dominated by one…
The Ants Will Come and Tell Me
As the Empire was falling apart, Britain had a problem: how to keep control of all its former colonies and their resources as they…
Borges Marathon, Part 2: The Improbable Impostor Tom Castro
I love the writing of Jorge Luis Borges. Back in the early days of this blog, I was so deeply affected by…
The Reality of Anti-Fascism
Reading The US Antifascism Reader lately gave some useful context on this much-maligned but essential movement. It's a collection of essays and…
January 2021 Reading Roundup
January wasn't a great month, but I did read some good books. Here's a quick roundup.